Cult Corner: ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ Is The Masterpiece You Might Not “Get”

When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.

Last Friday Netflix premiered its latest original series: Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. Chances are you probably feel one of three ways about this new show. You either love it passionately and can’t believe that David Wain and Michael Showalter managed to reunite the entire Wet Hot American Summer cast for one more fevered sojourn to Camp Firewood, think the star-studded comedy is fun, but you don’t get the gargantuan amount of inside jokes and irreverent pop culture references, or you think the show is dumb, confusing, and don’t get why all these famous people signed up for such nonsense.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is the long-awaited prequel to the 2001 cult sensation Wet Hot American Summer, so how you feel about the new series is naturally going to be a reflection of what you think of the original film – and that film is massively polarizing.

Since its debut, Wet Hot American Summer has had to contend with the wild passions of its loyal fans and the apathy of the general population. The film had four sold-out screenings at Sundance, but couldn’t nab a distributor. The vast majority of film critics panned it at the time, but a few trusted pop culture prognosticators – like Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman – heralded it as a comedy masterpiece. Over the last decade and a half, comedy nerds have watched it, shared it, quoted it, gif-ed it, and basically raised it up to be one of the first “classics” of the 21st century. And yet, a lot of people don’t know what the hell it is.

Okay, so Wet Hot American Summer is a satirical comedy that pokes fun at the conventions and clichés of “summer camp” comedies like Meatballs. It’s also gleefully weird and features one of the most impressive casts in film history: Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Banks, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and more fill out the massive ensemble cast. It’s as much a fun film to watch as a comedy time capsule. People who love this film admire its heart, its humor, and its willingness to be as pointless as possible. People who hate this film often say it’s dumb and childish and nonsensical.

So here’s the thing: Wet Hot American Summer might not be your bag. It’s very possible that you won’t get the jokes or understand why so many people are so obsessed with it. Ironically, your potential aversion to the film is what makes its fanbase love it more. For some, liking Wet Hot American Summer is akin to knowing a secret handshake. It’s enduring legacy is that it’s not a universal hit.

If you were ever going to pick a time to dive into Wet Hot American Summer, now would be it. More people are talking about it than ever, so you’re likely to find someone who shares your views on it — good, bad, or indifferent. (And you kind of need to be up-to-date on the original flick if you’re going to really get the most out of the new series.) [Watch Wet Hot American Summer on Netflix]